Category Archives: halloween

This year Eloise (starting in the summer) had all sorts of things that she wanted to be for Halloween (rainbow, unicorn, toothbrush, etc.) but nothing really stuck. I found this DIY costume on the Primary website and showed it to Eloise and she was set! She LOVES the local high school marching band so I wasn’t too surprised. But I think this may be the very last year I have any say in her costume, however.

Daphne, on the other hand, didn’t have a choice since I have been wanting to dress up a toddler as a chicken pretty much since I got pregnant! I just needed her to be able to walk! And it was a really easy costume (I made just a few modifications like no belly stuffing and felt for feet) and SO CUTE! You guys, seriously, it’s the best.

{And this is was a definite fail on my part. I off-centered the cherry and frosting on the headband (it would’ve been so cute if it would have stayed like that!) but it was too heavy and kept falling off…}

Eloise decided a while ago (like in the summer) that she wanted to be a cupcake. And I waited for a while to see if she would change her mind. But she didn’t! And her only request was that it be purple (surprise). I looked at a few places to see if I could find a pre-made cupcake costume, but there weren’t very many, and of the ones that were available, I just didn’t like any of them… they all looked a little cheesy! So, I searched Pinterest and found quite a few tutorials. I ended up using this one. I am super happy with the way it turned out, but practically it was a little cumbersome for Eloise to actually trick-or-treat in. Almost everyone in our neighborhood has stairs, and that was a bit of a challenge. Half-way thru the night she came back and I offered for her to change into her pumpkin costume from last year. Much better. So, note to self, easy to walk in Halloween costume is a requirement!

Eloise did really well this year for Halloween saying “trick-or-treat,” “Happy Halloween,” and “thank you” when we were at each neighbor’s door. She is usually pretty reserved when we see people we don’t know, so I sort of expected she would be that way and hide behind either Aaron or me, but it wasn’t the case at all!

{Happy Halloween!} Daphne is dressing up as a donut this year to complement Eloise’s cupcake costume (which I will probably just post pictures of on Instagram and Facebook). I chose a similar color scheme (the sprinkles on both costumes are the same color) so the girls’ costumes are cute together but not too matchy-matchy! I followed this DIY Donut Costume Tutorial but used flannel for the donut and icing instead of felt and also sewed the donut instead of hot-gluing it all together (but trust me when I say I used a LOT of hot-glue for Halloween costumes this year!).

Daphne will probably join Eloise and Papa trick-or-treating at a few houses this year along with the parade before hanging at home with me to hand out candy to the kids (and Eloise will stay out longer this year with Aaron and some friends). We either get like 4 kids or like 150 depending on the year!

{Eloise wasn’t sure about all of the costumed people at our neighborhood parade, but she seemed to be soaking it all in from atop Papa’s shoulders!]

{The Roosevelt High School drum line led the annual neighborhood parade. It is such a fun tradition!}

{I decided to make Eloise a special Halloween basket filled with non-candy goodies that she traded in her trick-or-treat bucket for (after getting lots of good advice from mamas on Facebook – thank you!) and she was obsessed! And a few weeks ago Eloise and I made a chocolate Halloween house (from Trader Joe’s) which has been decorating our dining table!}

{Mama, Papa, and Eloise pumpkins. I asked Eloise which shapes she wanted for each part of her pumpkin’s face and this was the result!}

{Eloise and I before we headed over to the parade. The sweetest pumpkin ever!}

{We were trying so hard to get a “cheese” out of her, but alas, the stoic Eloise pumpkin.}

{And football was on tonight (her favorite after Daniel Tiger!) and she found a fun new TV viewing position while she snacked on trail mix from her Halloween basket before (a late) bedtime.}

Halloween is way more fun with kids!! Eloise is just understanding the idea of trick-or-treating and we practiced a lot in the past few weeks. She wore her costume a bunch this past month, including to school where she joined all of her friends who were dressed in costume as well. It was a bit overwhelming tonight for her to be out since we have so many kids roaming around the neighborhood, but Aaron took her to our neighbors’ houses that she knew. Plus, Aaron and I get first dibs on her candy stash, with the rest either being frozen for later or given away!

Halloween posts are tricky since you really can’t get pictures up of your costumes until November, so here they are! While Aaron & I donned our costumes for Ben & Sarah’s Halloween party the weekend before Halloween, we dressed up as the full Flintstone family for the Halloween parade & trick-or-treating. It was so fun to see us all together & Ben was able to get some good photos before we headed out into the rain.

A lot of people have asked, & yes, I did make all of the costumes. BUT, I followed a tutorial {it’s a good one, check it out here} so I didn’t come up with this completely on my own. {I did add pockets to Fred & my costumes which is a must for the Halloween party – a place for your phone & lipstick!} Except for Sadie’s costume. I used a rain jacket that we have for her to make a Dino cape (of sorts), adding the eyes & hair onto the hood, & sewed a simple “collar” with a strip of light blue fabric & adding Velcro. I wore a wig since I didn’t want to dye (or spray) my hair; I found a long red wig at Display and Costume & pinned it up with a bun in the back & a twist in the front. Aaron wore these funny feetto finish his costume!

We had a lot of fun dressing up as a family & are hoping to keep up the tradition of family costumes for a few more years (until Eloise has a say in what she dresses up as!). See last year’s family costume here.

i’ve said it before, & i’ll say it again!, yearly recaps are always my favorite kinds of blog posts. its a small way to sum up your year & to see how much the last 365 days have brought. as i look forward to the New Year, i am humbled & grateful by all of the wondrous events of 2013. here’s the rundown of ours:

august: we celebrated our three year wedding anniversary. the blog got a Liebster Award Nomination. I diy-ed the tiniest baby hats for our friends’ new baby. we road-tripped to hood river, oregon to celebrate my cousin’s wedding.

reflecting back on this year, i am reminded how blessed we are & also how different this year has been than the year previous. it has been such a wonderful year & ringing in a new one is a bit bittersweet.

how was your 2013 – was it a year to remember, or are you itching to start 2014 already?